Devils eye deal for defenseman

With Larsson out and Henrik Tallinder (blood clot) not expected back anytime soon, the Devils are trying to add a defenseman before the Feb. 27 trade deadline.One candidate is the Minnesota Wild’s Marek Zidlicky, who has waived his no-trade clause for a potential deal to the Devils.

Though Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher said he won’t be boxed into trading Zidlicky to the Devils — if he trades him — and plans to shop the veteran around, Zidlicky was a healthy scratch last night against Winnipeg.

“I’m making the assumption that his head would not be in the right place to play this game tonight,” Wild coach Mike Yeo told the Minneapolis Star Tribune today during the team’s morning skate.

Palmieri may get ice time: Trying to shore up his fourth line, DeBoer moved Nick Palmieri to the unit yesterday in practice, teaming him with Eric Boulton and Jacob Josefson.

“I’m going to sleep on it,” DeBoer said, “but that’s what it looks like now. Just moving bodies around trying to get a fourth line that can play a good role for us, give us momentum and not lose momentum and bring a physical presence, that’s hard to play against.”